This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Caught between a rock and a hard place, women in Brazil and other countries where the Zika virus is prevalent may have received help from an unlikely ally: the Pope.

Flying back from a visit to Mexico, Pope Francis suggested women could use contraception to avoid getting pregnant and passing the virus to their babies. The mosquito-borne disease is linked to severe birth defects.

The Pope’s surprising words are most welcome to women caught in a moral dilemma. On one hand, health officials in several countries have been warning women not to get pregnant for anywhere from seven months to two years while they work to eradicate the outbreak of the disease. At the same time, many of the countries where the Zika virus is prevalent are predominantly Roman Catholic, and bishops there have been speaking out to reassert the church’s opposition to birth control and abortion.

While the Pope seemed to soften the church’s stance on contraception – if only to avoid the spread of the Zika virus — he had nothing to offer women who have the disease and find themselves pregnant. He emphasized that abortion, which he called an “absolute evil,” was not an option.

Still, the Pope’s comments may encourage Catholic hospitals in the region to provide birth control. That would be a helpful step, especially in poor areas in Brazil and other Latin American countries where women have little access to contraceptives.

Article Continued Below

The Pope’s words were also welcome to health authorities trying to battle the latest outbreak of the disease. It was diagnosed in Brazil last April and has now spread to 26 countries in the Americas. Experts believe it will infect as many as four million people during the next year.

While the disease itself is mild, the devastating birth defects it is associated with include microcephaly, in which babies are born with undersized heads and incomplete brain development. Already some 4,000 babies have been born with the condition.

The Pope’s words may not go far enough for health and human rights officials. The World Health Organization says women who have unprotected sex and fear infection should have access to emergency contraception — in other words, the morning-after pill. And the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on countries in the infected region to repeal policies that break with international standards on access to sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion.

Still, Pope Francis’s words will help women avoid pregnancy until this latest round of the Zika virus can be stamped out. That’s good news for women.

Delivered dailyThe Morning Headlines Newsletter

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com